Fearing the Darkness
by Ex-Shark-Virtue-005
Summary: How do Hikari and Ken deal with being pulled into a dimension that neither want to ever see again? Takes place during episode 31 of Digimon Adventure 02.


Konnichiwa Minna-san! I'm here with a Digimon fic today! It focuses around Hikari and Ken and episode thirty-one of season two. I was watching the episode one day and I let my hyper-active imagination run wild with it. It is a one shot, I'm not sure if I can continue this one further than one chapter. I did use the Japanese names in this fic, so I apologize if that causes any confusion.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon Adventure 02 or the Characters, I'm just borrowing them for a while.

Happy Reading!

* * *

"_Ichijouji-kun...Ichijouji-kun! Ichijouji-kun what's wrong?"_

Ken Ichijouji looked up from his still blank test sheet and came face to face with his teacher, "Sensei..." he muttered.

"Are you alright?" The teacher asked as the rest of the class started murmuring, "You haven't even written your name down yet."

Ken groaned, "I'm sorry," He muttered as he tried to rub the fatigue from his eyes, "I guess I'm feeling a little bit sick."

"Do you want to put your head down for the rest of the class?" The teacher asked as the muttering from the rest of the class got louder, "You can make up the test when you're feeling better."

Ken nodded and put his head down on his arms. He then went back to thinking about the digital world and Black WarGreymon.

* * *

"Hikari-chan," Takeru said as they spent their lunch period outside, "Is something bothering you?"

"It's nothing," Hikari lied, "I'm just a little tired today."

"Okay," Takeru said, "If you say so.

Hikari sighed as she thought about Black WarGreymon, /A digimon created from darkness/ She thought, /How awful...that poor thing. He must be suffering so much.../ She put her bento box down and sighed. She wasn't really hungry. She was feeling kind of sick from just thinking about everything that had happened.

"Hikari-chan," Takeru said, "Are you sure you're alright? You look a little pale." He sighed, /She's being so distant...it's like that time she got pulled into that other world.../

"I'm alright," Hikari said, "I just have a lot on my mind."

"Alright."

* * *

"Ken-san,"

"Kennedy-san," Ken said as he turned to face the slightly taller exchange student, "What is it?"

"Everyone is worried about you," She said, "Ever since that time you disappeared, you've been acting differently. The old Ken-san would have never fallen asleep during class. And everyone wants to know if you're alright."

"I'm alright," Ken said, "Thanks for worrying about me. I have to get going."

"Be careful on your way home,"

"Thank you."

Ken slowly walked home that day. He was feeling off, he got that way a lot recently, especially after the birth of Black WarGreymon. It took him at least ten minutes longer for him to get home that day.

"You're home late Ken-chan," his mother greeted, "Do you want a snack?"

"No," Ken said, "I'm not hungry."

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm just tired," Ken said, "I'm just going to take a nap for a while."

"Okay. Sleep well."

Ken nodded and walked into his room.

"Ken-chan!" Wormmon greeted, "Welcome home. Did you have a good day at school?"

"Not really," Ken said, "I fell asleep during a test and, I don't know...I just couldn't concentrate today."

"Are you feeling well enough to go to the digital world?" Wormmon asked, "The others have already emailed you where they're going to be."

"I'm fine," Ken said as he readied his D-3, "We should get going, the others are expecting us there."

"You should rest if you're not feeling well Ken-chan," Wormmon said, "I'm sure if you emailed Daisuke or Hikari they would understand."

"I'm alright," Ken said, "We should get going."

Wormmon sighed as he followed Ken through the digital gate.

* * *

Ken had a bad feeling about the area that Daisuke and the others had chosen to help clean up. It felt familiar, but in a bad way. He couldn't explain why he dreaded a place he had probably never been to before.

"Ken-chan," Wormmon said, "You're being too quite. What's wrong?"

"It's..." Ken froze. He could have sworn that despite the dense forest he heard the sounds of waves crashing up against a rough shoreline.

"What is it Ken-chan?" Wormmon asked.

"It's nothing," Ken said quietly as an odd lightheaded sensation started to come over him and a thick fog began obscuring his vision. He started to feel sick as the sound of waves grew louder.

"I have a bad feeling about this place," Wormmon said as Ken stopped walking.

Ken looked around. Then the trees in front of his field of vision faded and something else took their place. He was absolutely mortified a place he had hoped to never see again materialized in front of him. He clutched his head and screamed.

Wormmon was about to suggest that they turn back and head home when Ken started screaming in pain. "Ken-chan!" He yelled, "What's wrong?" Ken didn't answer, he just fell to his knees continued screaming. "Ken-chan! Ken-chan!" When Ken still didn't respond Wormmon grew increasingly nervous. "KEN-CHAN!" Wormmon screamed.

"Ichijouji-kun!"

Wormmon looked up, /Oh good, Hikari and Miyako are here, they can help him/

"Ichijouji-kun," Hikari called as Ken continued to clutch his head visibly shaking in pain, "Are you alright?"

"What happened?" Miyako asked, "Did Black WarGreymon show up or something?"

/No it's worse.../ Ken thought. He felt physically sick, he was weak, lightheaded and nauseous. "Umi..." He muttered.

"What?" Hikari asked.

"I saw the ocean," Ken muttered, "A dark ocean..."

"Huh?" Hikari gasped, "Dark ocean..."

"What are you talking about?" Miyako asked, "Well it is dark. But the ocean part..."

Ken sighed. The sick feeling in his head and stomach was diminishing, "I'm alright now," He said as he slowly got to his feet. But the dizziness returned and he would have fallen if Hikari hadn't have been there to steady him.

"What do you mean you're alright!" Miyako yelled, "You're all unsteady! What are you talking about? An ocean in the middle of the forest…"

* * *

The small group then walked off. But Ken couldn't help but feel as though something odd had happened. After they had walked a few paces the trees started to turn black and the fog grew thicker.

"Does it feel as though we've been walking around in circles?" Hikari asked.

"We may have gotten lost in all this foliage," Tailmon said

"No way!" Miyako cried, "Hang on a sec! Are we going to end up rotting in this place!" Then something caught Miyako's eye and she gasped.

At first Ken thought that perhaps she had seen the dark ocean as well but then she smiled and waved.

"Daisuke!"

"V-mon!"

Miyako and Hawkmon ran towards the boy still yelling. But something was off, the girl was yelling so much yet why wasn't Daisuke responding? Then to everyone's horror and amazement, Daisuke ran right through Miyako and V-mon through Hawkmon.

"Why!" Miyako cried.

_"That's odd," _Daisuke said his voice sounding odd and almost distorted, _"I thought I heard a voice."_

_ "I thought I did, too." _V-mon said.

Ken know something was wrong. They were right in front of him! Why didn't he see them? "Motomiya-kun..." He called as the boy and blue Digimon ran off again. He began to feel sick again, /What is going on here.../ He thought, /Why didn't Motomiya-kun see us?/

"I think we wandered into some strange place." Hikari said.

"No way!" Miyako cried, "Now what do we do?"

"We keep walking to see if we can find our way out." Hikari said.

They kept walking and Ken started feeling sicker as the fog got thicker.

"The fog is getting thicker," he said softly.

Neither Hikari or Miyako responded. /They're probably thinking the same thing/ He thought. "I think we've wandered somewhere we can't return from," He said softly.

"As long as someone wants us to return, we'll be able to get back," Hikari said.

Then after a while Miyako started making suggestions but he paid little attention to them. If he wanted to keep his stomach's contents where they belonged, he needed to keep his mouth shut.

"Hikari-chan!" Miyako called, "Are you making fun of me?"

"That's not true..." Hikari said.

"You are making fun of me aren't you!" Miyako yelled as she ran off.

"Ano..." Ken started as the girl refused to yield.

"We should follow her," Hikari said, "She may get into trouble if we're where I think we are."

Ken nodded and followed Hikari.

"Miyako-san!" Hikari called as they got closer to the older girl.

"Tailmon," Miyako called, "Is that your Holy Ring down there?"

Tailmon looked down the abyss that Miyako was standing before. "I don't know." she said.

"I'll go down and see," Miyako said as she got ready to scale down the cliff.

"No, I'll go," Hawkmon said.

"Don't be reckless," Hikari said,

"I'll be fine," Miyako said as she grabbed on to an unstable piece of rock and started falling.

"Miyako-san!" Hikari called as she grabbed Miyako's hand.

Ken went to help Hikari pull the older girl up when a gray wave rose up beneath the lilac-haired girl and crashed on the cliff wall. His eyes widened as the nausea rose in the pit of his stomach and the terror returned. He grabbed his head and screamed in pain and terror as the two girls fell down the cliff.

Wormmon was now incredibly worried. The last time Ken screamed like that, he had just sustained an injury that took him three weeks to recover from. Ken slowly backed away from the ledge and fell to his knees again.

"Ken-chan," Wormmon called, "What's wrong?"

"I want to go home," Ken muttered weakly, "I don't want to be here anymore...Wormmon" Ken whispered, "I don't feel good..."

Wormmon looked over at Ken in time to see the boy clutch his stomach and throw up. "Ken-chan," Wormmon said, "You're sick and you should have stayed home."

After a few minutes Hawkmon and Tailmon scaled the cliff.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Ken asked as he tried to stand but was brought back to his knees by lightheadedness.

Tailmon looked at Ken, "You don't look well," She said, "Don't worry about it. We've got it under control."

Ken sighed, /I feel so useless/ He thought, /I hate this.../ He made another attempt to stand and was successful this time.

He walked up to the ledge as Hikari and Miyako reached the top of the cliff, "I'm sorry I wasn't able to help back there," He said softly. He still wasn't feeling very well at all. His stomach had settled a bit but he was feeling lightheaded, exhausted and weak.

"Don't worry about it," Miyako said, "You wouldn't have been of any help seeing that you were screaming like that."

Ken sighed as Miyako kept talking. He wasn't paying any attention, he was just trying to keep himself conscious. It wasn't until Hikari froze that he paid any attention to what the girls were doing.

"What's wrong?" Miyako asked.

"I hear waves," She said as she stood then ran.

"Yagami-chan," Ken called.

"Hikari-chan," Miyako yelled as she ran after the younger girl.

Ken sighed as he went to follow the two girls, "Ken-chan," Wormmon called, "Are you sure you're feeling alright to follow them? You should wait here, you look terribly pale."

"I'll be alright," Ken said, "They may run into trouble. We have to be there to help."

"If you say so," Wormmon said, "But please don't overdo it. You know how your mother gets."

"Don't worry," Ken said as he ran after Hikari and Miyako. Ken was usually in pretty good physical form due to years of soccer training but he had a hard time keeping up with the two girls. /What is wrong with me.../ He thought, /I don't get it. What is making me feel so sick/ When he finally caught up to Miyako and Hikari he gasped. He was standing in front of an immense dark ocean.

"Why does Hikari keep getting pulled into this place?" Tailmon asked, "I almost lost her to this place once before."

Ken gasped, he thought that he was the only person who had been called to this place. "Hikari-san has been here too?" he asked, "I thought that I was the only one who had been brought here."

"Ken-kun and Hikari-chan can see it," Miyako cried, "Why can't I see it!" Miyako's eyes then widened, "You're right! It's an ocean!"

"Something's not right," Ken said softly, "It feels like the world has distorted."

"I think it's because the forces protecting the digital world are weakening," Miyako said as Ken gasped, "That's what Izumi-sempai told me anyway."

"Forces protecting the digital world?" Ken asked. /What's going on here? Could Arukenimon have something to do with this?/

Then before Ken could say anything else, Hikari fell to her knees clutching her head.

"I don't wanna be here anymore," Hikari moaned, "I wanna go home!"

"Don't worry," Miyako said, "We'll be able to get back home, you said so yourself."

Then Hikari stopped shaking and she looked up, just as a beast-like cry sounded from behind them. The tree of them turned just as a Blossomon materialized in front of them.

"Look!" Tailmon called, "I can see light coming from behind the Blossomon!"

"Miyako," Hawkmon called, "I might be able to evolve now!"

"Ken-chan!" Wormon called.

"Wormon shinkaa…Stingmon!"

"Hawkmon shinkaa…Aquilomon!"

"Hikari!" Tailmon called.

Ken watched as the girl cautiously took her D-3 out of her pocket but she dropped it and screamed as the Blossomon cried. He wanted to help but Miyako stepped in first. He then watched as both Stingmon and Aquilomon were thrown backwards. "Stingmon!"

There wasn't much activity until a pillar of light surrounded Hikari and Miyako and Tailmon and Aquilomon jogress evolved.

After Silphymon defeated Blossomon the ocean vanished and the forest went back to normal.

"How are we going to find the others?" Miyako asked after she picked up Pururumon.

"Oi!"

"Apparently that's how," Plotmon said.

"What happened to you guys?" Daisuke asked.

"We got pulled into this dark ocean place," Miyako said, "But Tailmon and Aquilomon were able to jogress evolve into Silphymon."

"Silphymon?" Iori asked.

"I get it!" Daisuke said, "Hikari-chan's jogress partner was Miyako! I wish I could have seen it!"

Ken sighed. He was still really feeling sick and he just wanted to go home and take a nap, like he told his mother he was going to do, "Well," He said softly, "I'll be going now." He heard Miyako gasp a bit as he walked off.

"Ken-chan," Wormon called, "How are you feeling?"

"I've felt better," Ken said, "I'm probably going to take a nap when we get back."

"Your mother is going to worry," Wormon said, "You should have stayed home today."

"I know I should have," Ken said as he opened the digital gate, "But I would have troubled the others if I did. Come on Wormon, let's go home."

When Ken got home he immediately climbed into his bed and pulled the covers up to his shoulders. The trip to the Digital World had completely drained him and he just wanted to sleep.

"Ken-chan," His mother called as she entered the room.

"Okaasan," Ken muttered as he sat up, "What is it?"

"I got a call from your teacher a little while ago," She said, "She said that you weren't feeling well today and that you fell asleep during a test today. Are you alright?"

Ken sighed, "I'm not feeling very well," he said, "I'm going to stay in bed for the rest of the day, I think I'm running a bit of a fever."

"Alright," She said as she placed her hand on Ken's forehead, "Hmm, you do seem a little warm, call me if you need anything, okay?"

"I will," Ken called as his mother walked from his room.

"Ken-chan," Wormon called, "You have a message from Hikari and Miyako. They both want to know if you're alright."

Ken sighed and got out of bed. He went up to his computer to type up a message to the two girls.

* * *

"Ah," Miyako called as she walked home with Hikari, "I got a response from Ken-kun."

"What does it say?" Plotmon asked, "He seemed to be really sick after you two fell."

"It says that he got home safely," Miyako said, "But he seems to be running a slight fever and is going to stay in bed for the rest of the day."

Hikari sighed, "He shouldn't have come," She said, "Tell him that we would have been alright if he had stayed home."

"Alright," Miyako said, "I will."

* * *

"Ken-chan," Wormon said, "Miyako sent you another message, well actually this one is from Hikari."

"What does it say?" Ken asked.

"It says exactly what I told you before you left," Wormon said, "Hikari said that they would have been alright if you had stayed home. They also say that you should stay home until you're feeling better and that they hope you feel better."

"Tell them I said thank you," Ken said as he shut his eyes with every intention of getting some well deserved sleep.

* * *

Well, what did you think? I know it wasn't very long but it's only my second attempt at a Digimon fic. I don't have much to say about this at the end aside from: thanks for listening to a bored college student let her imagination run wild for a bit. Let me know what you thought, See ya minna-san!

_Ex-Shark-V-005_


End file.
